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Friday, December 11, 2015

Here we are again at the end of another year. At
this time of the year, kids are looking forward to all the holidays and
activities ahead.

With my Spanish learning group of young
children, I embrace this time of the year to do lots of reviews and fun
activities for reinforcement. I created
some fun Spanish and math worksheets with Christmas holiday theme to keep the
expectation of the upcoming holidays engaging, fun and alive.

Oh by the way, in looking for ways to help young
children learn and identify numbers in Spanish randomly, I created “number recognition sheets.” These
sheets present two or three target numbers to help students learn them faster.
After students have mastered these number recognition sheets they are ready to
do the fun activity sheets pages 1 to 3. More detailed explanation is included
in the free download!Here are short videos of the “number recognition sheets” been used with 4 year old students.

The Christmas theme math and Spanish fun
worksheets can be used at the beginning of your class or at the end or even as
a break in between assignments.

This is the time of the year when we mostly give
and share. So I’m so happy to share with you as a holiday gift until the end of the Christmas season some of my
worksheets I created for my students.

I hope you find these activity sheets useful and
helpful as we approach the Christmas break.

Friday, October 30, 2015

Spanish
Sentence Cards are manipulative that engage children at an early age to build
short and simple sentences as well as help them with Spanish sight words. Even
though these cards are to be use with children 5 to 7 years of age, I have had
success using it with some 4 year old as well. So depending on your group you can decide is
you will use it with the 4’s.

Instructions
on how to use the cards are provided along with the product.

I
will share here some games and additional suggestions on how Spanish Sentence
Cards can be use.

1.The pairing
game:
Make sure to have an even number of students for the pairing game. Give cards
with words to half of the students and to the other half pictures. At your
command have students find their partners by matching the correct word with the
picture.

2.Memory game: Students
sit in a circle. Have cards with words and pictures face down on the floor in a
structured order. Students take turn turning over one picture card and one
word. If it matches, the students take the pair. The student with the most
pairs of cards wins.

3.The asking
game: Have students sit down in a circle. Place the
picture cards facing up on the floor. Ask students questions like these: “¿qué
es azul?” students should respond: “la mesa es azul.” If they do not
know how to respond, then the instructor should respond. Another questions
could be: “¿qué es blanco?” students response should be: “el
muñeco de nieve es blanco”.Another question could be: “¿qué es anaranjada?” response: “la
pelota es anaranjada.”And so on. Suggestion:
It is preferable for the students to respond in complete sentence as reinforcement
in building Spanish sentences with the cards.

4.Select the
adjective game:
With this game students have the opportunity to select the correct adjective to
complete the sentence. Have students sit in a circle. Place a picture card on
the floor and start the sentence and allow students to take turn picking the appropriate
adjective to complete the sentence. For example you could have the picture of the
car, and then place the word below it that says: “El carro es….. A student
selected by the instructor select the adjective that describe something about “el
carro”. And so on.

Suggestion: To help
students learn these sight words even faster you can make several copies of two
or three words and have students repeat after you. Doing this over a short
period of time will greatly increase students ability to recognize and pronounce
the words easily as well as increase their ability to correlate each word with
the correct image. You can even have a specific number of words you want to
teach and make several copies and have students turn the words over and read
it. Because you have several copies of the same words, it will become more and
more familiar when students encounter the words over and over again.

Friday, October 16, 2015

Bárrelo is a fun game to help reinforce anything
you are teaching in Spanish. But it’s equally useful for any language. I use the game bárrelo for reinforcing
numbers, shapes, and vocabulary words in Spanish. I came up with the idea of this game when I
was at the dollar store earlier this year looking for things to use with my
students. Then I saw this mini cute
brush and dust pan set.

So I bought it even though I did not know then how I will use it. Then
the bright idea came to me to use it for some type of game and that’s how
“bárrelo” which literally means “sweep it up” came into existence. I ordered a few more
sets online since the dollar store didn't have any more.

This game can be played with one student but it is definitely more
fun doing it in pairs or even three or four at a time depending on how many of
the brush and dust pan set you have. So here is how the game works:

I will use for example numbers since it’s the most common one I
use with this game activity. Select the number of students who will be playing
at the same time. Give each one a brush and dust pan set. The game is to be
played on a smooth and hard surface. I recommend using the table. At
first try two students, one on each end of the table. Give each
student small number cards from 0 to 10. They can arrange it however they want
on the table but it’s preferable to arrange it in random order. Tell
each student that you will call out a number but only when you say “bárrelo” is
when they can sweep that number in the dust pan.

If a student sweeps in the number before you say “bárrelo” the
number is taken away from that student. After calling out a number, give a few seconds for students
to visually locate the number and then say “bárrelo”. When playing
the game, do not call out all the numbers because it would not make it possible
to know who the winner is. So after calling six or seven numbers (you can use a
little more or a little less. It all depends on your group) then you can check
and see who has all the numbers you called out, in the dust pan.

Recommendation for keeping score of the numbers you call out:

You can have a sheet of paper with the numbers 0 to 10 or up to
whatever number you are teaching. As you call out the numbers you can cross
them out helping you to remember which numbers you called out. At the end the
winner or winners are the ones who have all the correct numbers you called
out.

This game is a favorite with my students, especially the 5 years
old. They always say to me: “are we going to play bárrelo today?” Here is a
short video of the game to give you an idea. This was with one of my 5 year old
groups.

To engage the other students that are not participating as yet in
the game, you can have those students take turns calling out a number and then
the whole group can say “bárrelo” . You could also select students to cross out
the numbers that are been called out.

As I mention earlier, this game can be played with pretty much any
subject you are teaching. Here are some suggestions you can use this game with:

·shapes

·vocabulary
words

·alphabet

·animals

·sight
words

·colors

·etc…

The numbers, shapes and vocabulary pictures to be used with this
game can be obtained here for free! Make as many copies needed, laminate and cut them
out and use over and over again!

You can create your own sheets for keeping track of the numbers, shapes and vocabulary and so on, but if you prefer you can use the free ones I have provided here.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Hello and thanks for visiting! Today I will
share some activities I recently did with my preschool students for reinforcing
colors.

I was at a dollar store sometime ago and I saw
party plates in different colors. I then thought of the idea of buying a set of
each color to engage my young students while teaching them the colors in
Spanish.

Here are some ideas.

1.Have
a basket full of different color items.
Introduce a color and take out everything in the basket that is that
color.

2.Do
the same activity above but instead of taking out the target color have
students take it out instead.

3.Use a cloth bag and place the
different color items in it. Display on the floor 4 to 6 different color plates. Have
students sit in a circle and pass the bag around taking out an item. Student
say the color of the item in the target language and place it on the same color plate. (Here are some
pictures to illustrate)

4.For the older preschool students and
kindergarteners you can do a variation by putting items of the same color on a
plate and an extra item of a different color. (you can say something like this:
“este objeto no pertenece en el plato verde.” Then you can go ahead and ask the
question: “¿a dónde pertenece?” “pertenece al plato amarillo”. You can even go
further and give a command to a student by saying for example: “Felipe, ponga
el objeto amarillo en el plato amarillo.” These are just some ideas of what you can say to engage students
in thinking, speaking and listening. The ideas are endless. Obviously they will not be speaking the target
language right away but what I have noticed is that as time goes by and they listen to me speak the language, imitation and
repetition starts to take place; so after they are comfortable they start to
repeat what they hear me say. Some students do it sooner than I expect!
Activities like these are excellent for language development.

5.Another activity that my students
love very much and have great fun is when I tell them to help me find a color.
I will use “rojo” for example. So I tell my students: “voy a buscar el color
rojo” then I pick something out of the bag that’s azul for example. Then I will ask: “¿es
rojo? they all will laugh and say no it’s azul! and so on. Once I pick the
right color out I encourage them to say:
si es rojo! It’s a good time to introduce affirmative and negative in the
target language.

Monday, September 28, 2015

Caritas are cute little faces created to teach
young children about emotions in Spanish.

Here are some ideas and suggestions for using
caritas as an activity.

1.Introduce three to four caritas at a
time. Each carita represents a Spanish emotion.

2.Create or use stories that involve
the emotions you are teaching.

3.Allow students to select the
appropriate emotion depending on the circumstance.

4.Sing the Spanish song: “Buenos días,
buenos días, cómo estás. and replace “muy bien gracias” with the emotions you are teaching. Here is an
example of how the complete song including the emotion feliz will sound like:

Buenos días, buenos días, cómo estas, cómo estas

estoy feliz, estoy feliz, y usted, y usted.(this tune is sung to the song
are you sleeping)

Every one sits in a circle with
the caritas in the middle and can start singing the song. Each student gets a
turn to say how they are by selecting the appropriate carita while saying in
Spanish the emotion. When they get to the part that says “y usted” student
points to the person next to him/her and so on until everyone gets a turn.

5.Ask
students to make specific faces by calling out different emotions in Spanish. For example you can say: “hagan una carita triste” or
“ hagan una carita enojada” etc.

6.Cut a set of caritas and laminate
without the craft stick on it. Place the caritas down and ask a student to pick
a carita without anyone seeing which one it is, then student imitate the same
carita that was picked up and have the other students guess what emotion it is.
Encourage students to say the emotions in Spanish.

7.Have a set of caritas without the
craft sticks on them. Have a set of craft sticks with an emotion written on each
one. Students match the carita with the correct stick.

Friday, September 18, 2015

School year is back and we teachers are geared
up and ready to teach our little ones with new ideas or at lease create a
variation to our teaching methods.

Well, here I will share some variations on
activities I’ve been doing with my preschool students in our Spanish class to
reinforce colors and shapes.

When introducing young children to shapes, I
prefer to use neutral color shapes. Once students are well familiar with the
shapes, I introduce different color shapes. Prior to teaching the shapes,
students should already know the colors that have been taught to them. (I use the same colors we have been working
on). So for example, I’ve been working with four colors in Spanish (yellow,
green, blue and red) so I will make shapes in those colors. That way we are
reinforcing shapes while keeping the colors present. That way I’m always
incorporating what we have learned with new material.

So here are some ideas and suggestions that have
worked for me.

1.The
asking game: Have three or four shapes of the
same but with a different color each. Ask students: “¿de qué color es el
círculo?” and son on with the other shapes. (suitable for students 2 -5)

2.The
mistake game: My students love this one because
they like the fact that they are helping the “teacher”. Have a basket with
different color shapes in it. Tell students:
“Voy a buscar un triángulo azul” and after looking for a few seconds
take out a different color triangle from the one you are looking for and then
ask students: “¿es el triángulo azul?” they normally say while laughing a big
“no”. Let’s say I took out green instead of blue, I have had students even say
the color. They will say: “no, it’s verde”
So I keep looking and do the same two or three times until I finally
take out the right one and they will say “yes”. This is a good time to
introduce to them how to say yes in Spanish. (suitable for students 4 -5)

3.The
finding game: Place the different color shapes on the table
and pick students one at a time to find the shape and color you select. (suitable
for students 3 -5)

4.Variation
to game 3: Have students sit in a big circle
and place all the color shapes in the middle and have students take turns in a
clockwise or counterclockwise motion finding the shape and color you select. (suitable
for students 3 -5)

5.The
basket game: Have a basket with different color
shapes. Pass the basket around and when you say “alto” the person with the
basket takes out the color shape you asked the student to find.

(suitable for students 3 -5)
Suggestions: you can put on a lively music as students pass the basket and stop
the music and who ever has the basket at that time takes out the shape and
color you select. Similar to hot potato game.

This is a good time to
introduce negation in Spanish for the finding game and the basket game. When a
student takes out the wrong shape or color you can say: “no es el círculo
rojo”, for example. After doing these
activities for a while, students will become more and more familiar with them
and will naturally answer in the affirmative and negative in Spanish.

6.Patterns and sequencing games: Use
the shapes and colors for creating games where patterns and sequence are
introduced as shown in the picture below. (suitable for students 3 -5)

They can also create groups by
color or by shape. All these different activities done over a period of time
will help students remember and internalize the shapes and colors in a fun and
engaging way.

7.You can use these shapes to
introduce or practice “yo tengo”. Have each student take out a shape out of the
basket. Then ask questions such as: “¿quién tiene el círculo rojo? the child
who has it should say: “yo tengo el círculo rojo” and so on.

I’m sure you will come up with
your own ideas as well. Feel free to comment and share your ideas, comments and
feedback!

You can access the neutral
color shapes and different color shapes for free here.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

I was first introduced to commands when I read Dr.
James Asher book on Total Physical Response (TPR). I found it to be very
insightful and logical. His book is based on his own experience and tons of
study cases done with students and adults. I would recommend reading the book to get the
full scope of his experiments, study cases and for an extensive guide on how to
apply TPR. For those that are interested in reading the book , you can find more
information at the end of this post.

When I started incorporating TPR in my Spanish
class, I noticed how children will rapidly remember what to do when a command
was said. This experience corroborates with Dr. Asher concept that the assimilation
of information and skills can be significantly accelerated through the use of
the kinesthetic sensory system.

In using TPR, I also noticed how much fun they
have when doing these simple actions. At first, I thought it was just fun for
the preschool children since they love moving around; but I also noticed how
the older students enjoyed it as well. After students get comfortable in doing
the commands they hear, I then challenge them to say the commands for me and/or
the other students to do. This is probably more fun for them!

Students
learn faster when an action is associate with what’s been said.

These
are the six benefits I experience with my students:

1.It boosts memory and helps
internalize concepts.

2.It creates a fun environment for
learning and retention.

3.It diminishes intimidation for the
target language.

4.It encourages participation even
with shy students.

5.It helps develop gross motor skills
in young children.

6.It prepares students for verbal
expression down the line.

Just by telling my student to performed one word
commands like: corre, camina, salta, etc (run, walk, jump, etc.) they have so
much fun. So to add to the fun, I create these 20 hilarious commands which include
more than just a one word command.

Some
ideas and suggestion to use with the command cards in Spanish:

1.Introduce one or two commands at a
time.

2.Between each command use the word
“alto” which means stop. This will help manage for how long students do a
specific command.

3.Once most of the commands are
learned, you can have students select a number or a card and perform the
command.

4.Once students are comfortable with
the commands, have them say the commands to their companions.

5.Have students perform the command in
groups of two’s or three’s for added
fun.

6.Use the command cards to
play the game "Simon says"

7.Avoid translating a
command. If a student does not remember the meaning of the command, then
demonstrate by acting it out.

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About Me

I have been teaching and working
with children as young as two years old and up for many years. Understanding
that real learning takes place when kids are having fun and actively
participating, I am continually developing ways, games and strategies to encourage
and motivate my students in order to maximize their learning experiences.

I currently teach Spanish and
Music to children
at several Day Cares in Chicago.

I am the creator of Music and
Spanish Fun for Kids.

I am a classically trained pianist.
I am also a composer and arranger. Most of the songs used in the Spanish Fun for
Kids program are my compositions and others my arrangements.